The price charts showed negative this week across the markets, but that isn’t where the important stories were unfolding anyways.

Beyond the day-to-day trading, we saw steady movement on the structural side of crypto. There was continued progress on regulatory clarity from Washington, steady institutional interest via ETFs, and positive international developments for crypto (minus China).

These are the less obvious shifts that shape the market long-term, and as always they are what the Vester Pulse focuses on.

Vester Updates

Following last week’s launch of our new News Agent, we want to dive deeper into what this agent truly unlocks for our users. It’s about shifting from seeing what is happening in the market to understanding why.

Our agent doesn’t just show you data; it allows you to quantify the narrative. For the first time, you can ask critical questions and get real-time answers: How is the buzz on X directly influencing a token's price? Is a surge in market sentiment genuine or just noise?

Delivering this level of granular insight has been a foundational goal for our founders. While we continue to refine the tool and squash bugs with your invaluable feedback, the core capability is now in your hands: the power to see the story behind the price chart.

We encourage you to go explore the connections between sentiment and performance.

This is an important lens for viewing the market, and we’re excited for you to use it.

Crypto News

A Healthy Reset?

Crypto markets faced their sharpest correction in weeks after the U.S. announced sweeping new tariffs, reigniting inflation fears and triggering a global risk‑off move. Bitcoin slid below $115K, down nearly 7% from mid‑July highs, while Ethereum and Solana took heavier hits. Across the market, more than $400 million in leveraged long positions were liquidated, magnifying the decline.

Unlike previous sell‑offs that have spiraled into disorderly unwinds, this retreat highlighted the maturing depth of crypto markets. Despite the size of the drawdown, liquidity held firm. Bitcoin absorbed large blocks of selling without cascading lower, and ETF inflows continued to provide a steady floor of institutional demand.

Stablecoin supplies also expanded through the week, showing that new capital remains on the sidelines, ready to deploy. You can see the minimal impact that this market pullback had compared to the sheer size of the crypto market cap in present day.

Still, on‑chain signals point to a cooling phase. Daily active Bitcoin addresses dipped, and transfer volume contracted by more than 20%, suggesting reduced speculative momentum. The technical picture now revolves around the $112K–$116K zone: holding above this band would confirm the move as a healthy consolidation, while a decisive break lower could shift the narrative to a deeper retracement.

For now, the message is two‑fold: macro shocks can still shake the market, but the underlying structure is far more resilient than in past cycles. ETF flows, stablecoin expansion, and orderly liquidity absorption all suggest that the long‑term institutional bid remains intact, even as traders reassess in the short term.

Project Crypto

The SEC took its most decisive step yet toward reshaping U.S. digital asset markets this week with the launch of Project Crypto. Announced by Chair Paul Atkins on July  31, the initiative signals a fundamental break from the enforcement-first approach of past years. Its goal is nothing less than a full modernization of securities regulation so that American capital markets can function natively on-chain.

At its core, Project Crypto introduces a framework for clearly classifying crypto assets, modernizing custody rules, and opening the door for compliant issuance through safe harbors for ICOs, airdrops, and network rewards. It also explicitly supports the rise of integrated platforms—so-called “super‑apps”—that combine trading, staking, lending, and tokenized securities under a unified regulatory umbrella. For the first time, the SEC is acknowledging that most crypto assets do not fit neatly into the old securities box and require purpose-built rules.

The political backdrop adds weight. The rollout comes on the heels of the GENIUS Act, which cemented stablecoin regulation into federal law earlier in July, and coincides with a White House policy roadmap calling for the U.S. to lead in blockchain finance. Together, these moves form the clearest signal yet that the regulatory environment is shifting from ambiguity and turf wars to structure and support.

Markets responded quickly. Institutional allocators and infrastructure providers began positioning around tokens and protocols likely to benefit from a regulatory green light. The approval earlier this week of in‑kind creation and redemption for Bitcoin and Ether ETFs underscores how rapidly these structural changes are being implemented.

ETF Tailwinds for Solana

A decisive step was taken this week toward securing a new level of institutional access for Solana in the United States. On Friday, several of Wall Street's largest asset managers - including Grayscale, VanEck, Fidelity, and Bitwise - filed amended S-1 registrations with the SEC for a wave of proposed spot Solana ETFs.

The refined details within these filings, which address key compliance and fee structures, signal that the dialogue with regulators is active and progressing, leading top analysts to place the odds of approval at an exceptionally high 95%.

This new push is significant not only for its high chance of success but also for the innovation it promises. A proposal from VanEck, for instance, aims to incorporate staking rewards directly into its ETF structure. If approved, it would be the first U.S. crypto ETF to offer investors both price exposure and a native source of yield, a powerful differentiator in a market where such assets are in high demand.

The growing institutional conviction is already creating a clear tailwind for the asset. While not a volatile spike, Solana’s price has demonstrated a steady upward trend, reflecting the market's thoughtful digestion of these developments and their long-term implications.

This quiet strength in the spot market is complemented by a surge of activity in derivatives, where sophisticated traders often position themselves first. In July, Solana futures volume on the CME jumped by more than 250% to reach $8.1 billion, a clear indicator that institutional capital is moving in ahead of a potential approval.

This would mark a critical phase in the asset’s maturation and its integration into the mainstream financial system. It follows Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and several other tokens that have gained sizable institutional buy-in.

Russia’s Rouble-Backed Stablecoin Surges

A new rouble‑backed stablecoin (A7A5) has emerged as one of the most consequential financial experiments of the year. In the two weeks since its launch, the token has already processed more than $40 billion in transfers, with daily volume topping $1 billion. Officials in Moscow are framing it as a tool to bypass sanctions and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar in cross‑border trade.

The design is simple but ambitious:

• Each token is pegged to the Russian rouble and backed by domestic reserves

• Distribution flows through state‑aligned banks and payment networks

• A7A5 is already being used in energy and commodities trade across Asia and the Middle East

Researchers tracking flows say it is quickly becoming an unofficial backbone for Russia’s sanctioned economy.

The implications extend beyond geopolitics. By moving billions in daily volume onto blockchain rails, the rouble‑backed coin highlights how state‑sponsored stablecoins can operate at scale outside the traditional financial system. While Western regulators have long debated central bank digital currencies, Russia is effectively field‑testing one under the stablecoin label.

Market observers caution that:

• Liquidity is highly centralized

• The system depends on continued government support

• Questions remain about convertibility and systemic risk

Even with those warnings, the project has become too massive to dismiss. It's the beginning of a new era where government-backed coins will battle for dominance against giants like Tether and USDC. 

Closing Thoughts

This week’s events perfectly illustrate the tale of two markets.

Creating the defining challenge for today's investor.

How do you separate what’s real from what’s not?

How do you weigh a short-term, 7% dip in Bitcoin against a foundational regulatory shift in Washington?

How do you model the geopolitical risk of a Russian stablecoin processing $40 billion against the near‑certain approval of a new wave of institutional products in the U.S?

You use Vester.

Thanks for reading.

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See you next week.